September 11, 2019

Look! A Spot Of Commonplace Activity In My Otherwise Humdrum Life

Stealing a page from my good buddy Brickmuppet, I am warning you in advance about the contents of this post. If you are not interested in listening to bloviate about mundane achievements, then please watch this wonderful AMV that has altogether too few views on yootoob (less than 1200 at the moment of posting).

If that is enough for you, then I thank you for your time and have a lovely day. Otherwise, press onward (or "more") to continue.

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I would give you a hug, were I within range.
There is no doubt that it stinks to have health problems, and it sure doesn't help to be unemployed.
OTOH, having a project -- an outward-facing project that interacts with the rest of the world -- is a cheering thing during depressing times.
-- Code yourself a simple Kindle book and slap it up on KDP, for sale.
-- Sell cutely dramatic duckie pictures on one of the craftsy websites.
-- Do something else outward-facing, preferably starting small and doing something not requiring much brain or physical effort.
Then, whatever you slap up there, let the rest of us know. Receive feedback that is not about health problems or unemployment.
Repeat your project with more complexity, as desired.

It is totally okay to excavate content from the dawn of time, for one of these projects.

Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at September 12, 2019 09:17 PM (sF8WE)

3
I've had a fairly sucky second half of 2019 (I will spare you the details, I already have a blog).
But you have my sympathy.
And yes, having a project to work on is good. What's kept me putting one foot in front of the other on the really bad days lately is my teaching - getting into the classroom is weirdly a respite from what's going on in my head - and my hobby-projects at home.
And may there always be ducks, especially WonderDuck, as GreyDuck said.

September 05, 2019

Ducks In Anime: Yes I Saw It

It started simply enough... an e-mail saying "Watch DanMachi2 Ep 05." Then a text message. Then a comment here on The Pond. Then another text message. Then a post over at R's place. Then another e-mail. And what heralded all this fooferraw?

-Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Daro ka S02, Ep05

First, it was a duckie. A very nice duckie to be sure, don't get me wrong, but a single duckie. At which point, the producktion staff realized that while a single duckie is nice, many duckies are better. Much better. Much much better.

Even I had to admit, that was a lot of duckies... and they almost literally appeared out of nowhere. First one duckie, then many duckies flowed their way into the bath like they had been there all the time... which they hadn't, as an earlier establishing shot confirms.

So where did all of these rubber duckies come from? Particularly considering this is a fantasy world of swords and magic and Hephaestus isn't a lame, misshapen, ugly man but a eye-wateringly hot redhead with an eyepatch... rubber duckies should, sadly, not be a thing. But yet, there they are!

I am hardly one to complain about rubber duckies in anime. Heavens no! I don't even care about internal consistency when it comes to their appearance in a series... the more duckies the better, is what I say. Particularly when we all really know why they're here...

August 31, 2019

Anthoine Hubert 1996 - 2019

While I may not be writing about Formula 1 these days, I'm still following the goings-on in and around the sport. Heck, I'm even still watching the races though without the usual fervor. Which is why I winced when I checked my phone just a short time ago and saw that today's F2 race at Spa-Francopants had been red-flagged, then cancelled altogether, following a "horrific" crash at Eau Rouge/Radillion. I winced even harder when I finished up my morning shower, sat in front of my computer, and discovered that in the intervening time the FIA had released a statement on the incident. A driver had been killed.

Video of the accident can be seen here if you want to see it. Reports say that the driver in front of him, Giuliano Alesi, wrecked which wound up involving Hubert. His car hit the tire barrier at the exit of Radillion, site of many accidents in the past, rebounded back onto the track, where he was then hit by the car driven by Juan-Manuel Correa. The t-bone accident split Hubert's car, tearing off everything behind the cockpit, and sent Correa skidding down the track upside down. All three drivers were taken to the infield care center. Alesi was treated and released with only bumps and bruises. Correa has been transported to a hospital in Liege, and at last report is in stable condition. Hubert was declared dead at the care center.

I did not know much about Anthoine Hubert before right now. I knew he was in F2, and I must have seen him on track a couple of times as I've watched a few streamed F2 races this season. He was reigning world F3 champion, which means he likely had a good chance at reaching Formula 1 eventually. As can be seen in the photo above, he had a relationship with Renault Sport as a member of their young driver program.

F2, which races twice per weekend, has already cancelled Sunday's sprint race. Formula 1 has already said that they'll race as scheduled. No information yet about what sort of tributes will be held. It's interesting to note that this is supposedly the first driver death at a circuit in F2 or F1 since That Horrible Weekend when Ratzenberger and Senna were both killed... or at least that's what SKY is reporting. F1 polesitter Charles LeClerc posted this photo of the two of them just a short time ago, I can't imagine what's going through LeClerc's mind right now, and I only just discovered that Jules Bianchi was his godfather.

More as information warrants. Condolences from The Pond to all families, fans and friends of Hubert.

Juan Manuel Correa suffered fractures to both legs and a "minor spinal injury." He underwent surgery and as of reports released at 7pm Pond Central Time is in Intensive Care. He was incredibly lucky, as the breakdown above shows his feet were exposed. It takes a lot of impact to do that, essentially tearing the front of the safety cell off. This could have been a double fatality easily enough.

Edit 2: clear video appeared overnight. Spans from before Alesi's accident to seeing trailing cars slam on their brakes to avoid plowing into the shattered remains of Hubert and Correa's cars. I think I'm done watching these.

August 26, 2019

Seen In Hong Kong

I want nothing more than to make a joke like "the protesters can't lose, they've got the rubber ducks", but the situation is on too much of a knife's edge. Not that I'm any expert on China internal politics... in fact, those rubber ducks up there know more about it than me... but I'm of the opinion that a Tienanmen event is only being held at bay by the impossibility of keeping it from foreign eyes.

Given that in 1989, the Commies were completely willing to send tanks and mechanized infantry rolling over the demonstrators while in full view of hordes of foreign reporters and cameras filming from hotels, I seriously doubt foreign eyes is the reason Tiananmen 2 is being delayed.

I mentioned to a relative last week that the last time a hostile army marched into Hong Kong was when the Imperial Japanese Army invaded in December, 1941. Given the reports that the protestors are taking down the pylons upon which the CCTV cameras are mounted to, I think the people of Hong Kong suspect it will not be long before the tanks will be rolling into the New Territories.

August 23, 2019

Yee-Haw.

So I'm browsing around Reddit one day this week and I stumble upon a charming little story about a 90-something-year-old WWII veteran that approached a bunch of musicians performing at a festival to request a song. I don't remember the name of the tune, but it was what the dockside band was playing when the vet's troop transport pulled away to head into the Pacific War.

Well, that's cool, I thought, and got into the comments section. The guy who posted the thing original was a member of a group called "Shoot Low Sheriff", which made me laugh because I knew the rest of that sentence is "... they're ridin' shetlands!" What really made me arch an eyebrow was that the band plays "Western Swing."

Now it's no secret to anybody who's read The Pond for a while that I do like me some big band / swing music. I'm still enjoying the electroswing movement, for example, and one of my favorite Joe Jackson albums is "Jumpin' Jive". But "I've never heard of no Western Swing before, wonder what it sounds like" is what I thought to myself, so I looked them up.

Well, I'll be.

That's kinda darn fun right there! I bought both of their albums from Amazon, and they're a blast to listen to. Obviously if you don't like Western music, you're probably not going to like this... and I understand that. If you don't like swing music, you're probably not going to like this... and while I don't understand that, people are different. Even if you're wrong.

There have been times during his 30-year odyssey that it's seemed like they've been inventing reasons he couldn't be given his degree, but finally... FINALLY... they ran out of stupid excuses.

Congratulations, Brickmuppet! You persevered in the face of abject stupidity to get that which you've so desperately wanted for so long... which kinda feels like a metaphor for life in these here times.

August 19, 2019

The Kraken Is Displeased

I had something else in mind for a post today, but then I saw this:

...and suddenly I changed my mind. If the video continues to not work, click right here!

I quite enjoyed my time in the original Kerbal Space Program, but it was created by people who didn't actually know how to code. As a result, its an big unoptimized mess of spaghetticode that nobody currently working on the game knows... partly because most of the people who did the original are no longer part of Squad due to some very unfortunate circumstances. Every patch and every update made the mess just that much larger, reportedly causing new bugs every time old ones were repaired.

KSP 2 is being rewritten from the ground up by professional game developers. This can be both a blessing and a curse, of course. Part of the thing that made original KSP great was the passion the creators had for it... they liked blowing up their LGMs as much as the fans did. The new people involved won't have that same "spark", so to speak, but... well, y'know. I'm looking forward to seeing a LOT more.

Oh, and unless I miss my guess, at both the 1:32 and the 1:42 timemarks, we get to see friggin' ORIONS. Finally I get to build me a Michael of my very own!!! Bring on the Fthtp!

Lastly, at the very end, there's a "thank you" message to someone named Shaun Esau with the hashtag "Build Fly Dream". Here's what that refers to:

A lot of the beats from this video, one of the best "fan trailers" for the game out there, get repeated in the new trailer. It's a nice touch, one that shows that at least the new marketing department "gets it."

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I bought it a long time ago. But I never got too far in playing it. Each time I got through the tutorial I just kept messing around in it. And then other things consumed my time.
But this looks good.

August 09, 2019

Automated Night "Rail"

The Yurikamome Line from Shimbashi to Toyosu isn't technically a rail line since... well... no rails! It's rolling stock is all rubber-tired people movers running on concrete "tracks". And it's 100% automated, all computer-controlled.

No real reason to post this, honestly. It's just pretty watching the lights and sites of Tokyo, Odaiba, and oh, Tokyo Big Sight is the 11th stop. And it almost makes me feel like I'm a functioning human being. Duck. Whatever.

3
I rode Yurikamome in 2007 when I visited the Tokyo Anime Fair at Big Sight with my daughter. I found that its representation in Dai-Guard was quite faithful, although of course it has completed its transition from a commuter line to a tourist hauler by the time.

August 05, 2019

Random Anime Picture #148: Get Out Of My Head

This past winter season, there was a series called Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War. The basic plot sounded interesting: two brilliant people at an elite high school are too proud to confess their love to each other, so they engage in an unannounced "intellectual" duel to get the other to do it first. These two are surrounded by other characters, of course, and yadda yadda yadda hijinks occur. So, I recently decided to take a stab at it.

See what I did there?

To be frank, the two main characters are exactly the sort of people in anime I detest... self-absorbed, unlikable, and completely out of touch with reality, with a massive side order of arrogance. It wasn't until the final vignette of Ep03 that either showed some signs of humanity. In it, Kaguya, the female protagonist, walks to school for the first time in her life (elite school, remember? Her family is stupidly rich) and ends up escorting a 4th grader who is walking alone and scared. Despite all that, it's visually quite a striking show, and I can't help but admit to getting some self-loathing enjoyment... self-loathing in that I am kinda disgusted that I find such people entertaining in some way. The visuals for the OP are quite good, and the song sounds like something Tom Jones would have had a field day with. The ED, on the other hand, is 100% pedestrian.

Except for the Bleriot XI. And the zeppelin. Pedestrian except for those.

Until the aforementioned Ep03 rolled around. The ending for Ep03 dropped this in our laps:

...and I can't get it out of my head. I wake up in the morning, and there it is... "Chika, Chika, Chika-chi-kaaaa!" I go to bed at night, and there it is... "Suki suki doki doki!" It's amazing just how earwormy it is, how stuck in my brain it's become, and my only hope is that by infecting you with it, the music gods will take pity on me.

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The chars get a lot more likable later in the show. Or more like... they get confronted more or more with their inner insecurities, and it becomes more and more obvious that the asshole personas they try to keep up are a pretty thin mask. They're not oblivious, so much as -terrified- of each other's disapproval...

4
That was either some fancy mo-cap, or they were meticulous about tracing the reference footage. It's actually kind of uncanny-valley with the unrealistic anime head on a properly proportioned and moving body.

July 29, 2019

There once was a pandahamster named Baja. He had a friend that was a rubber duck. At least, he thought they were friends. Baja lived inside, the rubber duck lived outside.

This is where they both lived. Some of you might have just paused and thought "hey, why does that look kinda familiar?" Sadly, there's a very good reason. Baja no Studio was made by Kyoto Animation and they based the building off of their Studio 1.

I saw this OVA last weekend, shortly after news of the terrible fire had taken over anime fans' attention. I'm not gonna lie, scenes like this, of daily life around the building, were hard to watch. It's a very light-hearted affair, Baja no Studio is, but I couldn't help but think about that madman's fire ripping through the place.

But there are magical girls, and zeppelins, and a magic comet blazing its way across the sky, and there is Baja and Ga, and for those 23 minutes or so, Studio 1 is a place of wonder and merriment again.

There's unsubbed version on yootoob, and subbed versions in all the usual places. It's worth the watch.

Update 8/2/2019: Kyoto Police released the names of some of those killed in the arson. Yoshiji Kigami, the director of Baja no Studio, was on the list.

3I'm sorry, I thought the part where I said "killed in the arson" was clear enough. "Words mean things; treat them carefully." Clayton, I love you the way I love all members of the Pond Scum, smoked for days and with a good bbq sauce, but I've been doing this blog for 14 years now. This is hardly the worst abuse I've perpetrated upon the English language, and I'd rather not be scolded thank you very much.

July 22, 2019

Christopher C Kraft, the man who "invented" both the concept of Mission Control and the position of Flight Director as NASA began their missions into space, passed away today at the age of 95.

Kraft served as the first (and only) Flight Director for all but the final Mercury mission, thus defining the job as the head of the engineers on the ground. After "executive meddling" during John Glenn's orbital flight, he demanded and got the autonomy the role required. From then on, the Flight Director's word became law during a mission, unable to be overruled by those outside of Mission Control.

He then became The Boss, selecting the men who would share the role with him into Gemini and beyond. He invariably was in the command seat when the very difficult or never-before-performed things happened, such as the first US space walk. Prior to Gemini 8, he pulled himself off the rotation to prepare for the Apollo missions.

He was in mission control when the Apollo 1 fire during testing occurred... which also turned out to be the last time he was to be a Flight Director for NASA. Instead, he became management as the Director of Flight Control and would have an integral role in the planning of Apollo missions. He was called in by Flight Director Gene Kranz during the Apollo 13 incident, and headed the group that decided how to bring the crippled spacecraft and crew back to Earth.

Kraft became director of NASA's Manned Space Center in 1972, a role he held until he retired in 1982, shortly after the second flight of the Space Shuttle (STS-2). In 2011, NASA named the Mission Control Center in his honor, and in 2016 he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

"He installed a sense of what was right, what was wrong, what you had to do, how good you had to be, and those standards that he kind of inbred into everybody, by his own example, and by what he did with us, continue today. The Control Center today is a reflection of Chris Kraft."

-Glynn Lunney, one of the original Flight Directors selected by Kraft, 1998.

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He also ended the flight careers of more than one astronaut that he felt didn't have the proper temperament to work under Mission Control's direction, and was by many accounts a...challenging...person to work with. But he was probably the only person who could insist on Mission Control being what it needed to be: the first, final, and only word on how any given space flight was going to be achieved.

July 20, 2019

50 Years Since The Moon Landing

In 1964 Alvin Dark, the manager of the San Francisco Giants, and Harry Jupiter, sportswriter for the San Francisco Examiner, were watching batting practice as ace pitcher Gaylord Perry smacked home run after home run. Jupiter casually mentioned that Perry looked pretty good at the plate, like he had some decent power.

Dark knew better: Perry was an awful hitter, and this was back in the day before the DH was instituted. In a 22 year Hall of Fame career that saw him win over 300 games, his batting average was .131 in 1220 at-bats. Dark turned to Jupiter and proclaimed "A man will walk on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run."

Five years later, Apollo 11 touched down on the Lunar surface, the first time mankind had journeyed to another body in the solar system. Neil and Buzz left their lunar lander and went for a walk on the Moon. About a half hour after this, Gaylord Perry came to bat in the third inning of the Giants game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, when Claude Osteen grooved a fast ball dead over the center of the plate.

1
I watched the PBS "Chasing the Moon" series (an American Experience special) and my girlfriend was in the room during the moon landing bit toward the end. I started giggling and she asked what was so funny. "Just wait," I said. Then, when the show was over, I brought up "Go!" on the stereo.

July 18, 2019

Kyoto Animation Arson (updates at bottom)

Around about 10pm Wednesday, Pond Central Time, some maniac walked into Kyoto Animation's Studio 1 building, poured gasoline around, and set it on fire.

As I type this at about 1am Thursday morning, some solid information has come in. First, the arsonist is a 41 year old male, and is in custody. Second, there has been one confirmed death (edit: police are now saying ten dead), and many injuries... the most common number seems to be right around 30. There are also 20 "missing". NHK is reporting that at least ten of those were found lying on the floor of the second level... and left there are the search for survivors went on.

There are reports that the arsonist said "Let's see if this burns" as he poured the gasoline.

KyoAni has a number of different office locations around Kyoto. Studio 2 is where their offices and their retail store is located, for example. None of those other locations have been targeted. Some 70 animators reportedly worked at Studio 1.

I'm hoping this wasn't some crazed otaku's way of "getting back" at KyoAni... "I hated Endless 8, blah blah blah..." Reportedly, they're one of the best studios in Japan to work for, so maybe a fired employee? We'll find out soon enough, I expect, but no matter the reason, this is horrible.

Update: 241am - According to one report, among the missing are Tatsuya Ishihara who directed AIR, the Haruhi Suzumiya series, Kanon 2006, Clannad, and Hibiki Euphonium. Or, in other words, all of my favorite KyoAni shows (and Air, which I'm not fond of). Other directors missing are Ishidate Taichi (Violet Evergarden), and Takemoto Yasuhiro (The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie), and others.

Update: 855am - The death toll is now up to 33. I've seen unconfirmed reports that Takemoto is among the dead. Of the 70 people known to have been working in Studio 1 at the time of the arson, 69 of them are dead or in hospital for injuries of various severity. Many of the dead were reportedly found in a stairwell leading up to the roof, felled by smoke. It's important to note that this building was in a residential neighborhood; there were no fire escapes, only one stairwell, and only one way in, the main entrance. Oof.

Reportedly, the arsonist was yelling something that might translate out to "you plagiarized me." As KyoAni has only done two original works, Munto and Tamako Market, this seems unlikely. He had purchased 40 liters of gasoline in two containers just a half-hour before, and apparently brought them on a cart to the building. He reportedly told the people at the gas station that the fuel was for his generator. The president of Kyoto Animation has said that they've been receiving threatening e-mails for a few years... no idea if they're connected to this case.

This is now the largest mass murder in post-WWII Japanese history, displacing the Sagamihara massacre.

Update: 1009am - Sentai Filmworks, the American distributor that has done much work with KyoAni (either currently or in the ADV era), has begun a GoFundMe campaign to help those affected.

A) Has some unspecified mental illness
B) Has in the recent past been arrested for theft
C) Told police that KyoAni stole material or ideas from his own work. He seemed to indicate or allege multiple or ongoing acts of intellectual property theft.

He lives in Tokyo, and KyoAni have an office in Tokyo...so this definitely seems to be an issue of some kind of unhealthy fixation. He traveled to Kyoto to harm KyoAni because Kyoto Animation is in Kyoto. Right? Attacking the idea, rather than a logical, thought-out attempt to cause some specific damage to KyoAni. Or maybe I'm over-analyzing it.

Short of just saying "mental illness", I just can't grasp what would cause someone to do this.

July 15, 2019

Grr Argh Pfft (updated)

I had a job interview today. It was for a job very similar to the one I had before, claims processing. Not exactly the same, but close enough that I feel I'd be good at it, quickly. Despite it being 90 degrees out in the world, I wore a nice shirt and tie... really dressed to the fours (note: it's impossible for me to dress to the nines. There's not a tailor in the world that could make clothes that look that good on me), y'know?

Went in feeling confident, knowing that I had this one. I was perfect for the job.

45 minutes later, I went back out to the Duckmobile, wondering just exactly how I had managed to completely pee that one down the leg of my proverbial firesuit so badly. It's not even like I had a bad interview. I answered all questions well, was engaging, asked a couple of intelligent questions of my own... and left feeling like I had been slapped in the face with a long-dead mackerel.

I am no stranger to failure, as anybody who has read The Pond for more than a few days will be aware. But this feeling... this is new and exciting, in a completely terrifying sort of way. I'm already sure that I'm not getting this job. Either I was getting some vibe from the interviewers or I'm just down on myself, I dunno. Hope I'm wrong.

I'm going to drink some ice cold gatorade, chug a tylenol or two, and go lie down for a couple of decades. Maybe when I wake up, I'll feel better about the situation.

Update: It's now the next day, and I received an e-mail from the company saying in effect "Nope, it wasn't just you... we really didn't like you. Get lost." Less than 24 hours from the interview to rejection... that's the fastest turnaround I've ever had at least.

3
You reminded me of an interview that gave off odd vibes. Didn't get that job, but found another one later that actually turned out better for me.
You never know when the Fairy Godmother Department (which is open part-time) will place you name on the To Do list.

July 12, 2019

Still With You

So I got an e-mail from The Librarian this morning, pointing out that I haven't posted anything here at The Pond in a while. This is true. Fact of the matter is, I'm having motivational issues. Not just with blogging, but with just about everything. For example, I have a new computer chair. "Yes, finally!" I can hear y'all cheer. Yep, new chair... it's over there, in the dining room, in a box, waiting for me to put it together. It's been like that for about three weeks.

See what I mean? Working on it just seems so... well.

This past Monday? I had lunch with the folks. Literally the first time in 16 days I had left my apartment for any reason. The one good thing is that... look, remember back at the beginning of the year when I had to get a hotel room for four days on no notice? Well, that issue was finally resolved on the 5th. Maybe if you e-mail me, I'll tell you what it was about.

Instead of turning this into a whiny LJ post, here's some music:

Yes, really. It's catchy as hell, and for a while there Toby Keith had a great run of tuneage. Don't judge me.

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Sorry to hear you're having motivational difficulties. Been there, done that. It sucks.
As for the musical taste, I've liked a lot of Toby Keith's stuff. Beer for my Horses and Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue especially.

Posted by: jabrwok at July 12, 2019 06:22 PM (wKZS0)

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Build the chair! They're not that hard. Any little thing will help break the cycle of no accomplishment. And also help with the clutter problem.

July 03, 2019

That Pitcher Is Getting Shelled!

The Google Doodle for today is a rather fun little baseball game!

Your job is to hit the ball. The only way to make a strike is to swing and miss, three strikes and the game is over. To make it easier the pitcher, who I'll name "Yu Darvish", tips his pitches... watch the color of his cap, and woe betide you when it turns red. I've scored 57 runs and hit a homer over 1700 feet. (edit: 2002 feet off a redcap. I'm so proud.)

Lemonade is a great left-handed power source, btw.

edit: this seems appropriate, considering the holiday tomorrow.

No, I won't condemn anyone for putting ketchup on a hot dog. This is the land of the free. And if someone wants to put ketchup on a hot dog and actually eat the awful thing, that is their right. It is also their right to put mayo or chocolate syrup or toenail clippings or cat hair on a hot dog. Sure, it would be disgusting and perverted, and they would be shaming themselves and their loved ones. But under our system of government, it is their right to be barbarians.

1
Ketchup and Mustard on a plain Oscar Mayer wiener on a cheap bun is about the only way to eat them. Calling that a hot dog is the *real* crime.
At a minimum, get an all-beef 1/4 lb. wiener, cut a few slits cross-ways on one side, no more than halfway through; put them on the top oven rack and broil on hi. Usually about 6 minutes if the oven is already heated, longer if not. Turn over right as they start to bubble and char; heat the other side for no more than another minute.
Serve with nothing, but preferably with at least yellow mustard. Preferably made up with your favorite regional condiments and accessories. Do it right, because I guarantee the wiener will be just about perfect.

2
It's like I don't even know you anymore, Ben. I thought I taught you better than that.

Vienna Beef frank, bun with poppy seeds. Mustard, chopped onions, neon green pickle relish,
two halves of a tomato slice on one side of the dog, a quartered pickle
spear on the other. The whole shebang covered with celery salt. Sport
peppers are if you want the full-blown "dragged through the garden"
experience... I generally don't get them myself. I admit, I am weak. Ketchup is
acceptable for children and people from Wisconsin.

The bun is steamed, usually. The dog is either steamed or
water-simmered. You can grill them, in which case it's a "char-dog." Truthfully, during the summer, that's really the way to do it.

3
I was just trying to be inclusive. Personally I'm looking forward to my next trip to The Ballpark and getting a "Chicago-Style" foot long which follows the recipe properly. And being German, I'm a bit partial to sauerkraut and brown mustard on my hotdogs, occasionally...

ALTHOUGH...I do personally and perpetually prefer grilled dogs to steamed or boiled...

June 27, 2019

AMVs To Make You Have Some Reaction.

So today is the first time I've honestly had to shut Pond Central up and turn on the air conditioner. As I type this, it has just reached 86° F, but it's not very humid. Really, just sitting in front of a fan has been comfy all day, but a look at the forecast for the next week convinced me. Nighttime lows in the low 70s, daytime highs right around 90, and I'd really like to have the place temperature controlled before that sets up shop. "But Wonderduck," I hear you say, and you really should get that lump looked at, "what does any of this have to do with AMVs?"

To which I answer, "Have you ever read The Pond before?"

Over the past few days, in between frantic bouts of cleaning at 4am, I've managed to trip over a bunch of pleasing AMVs... some funny, some exciting, one or two just clever as hell. To you, I bring them now.

1
I still can't do "growl," and yes I know that's ironic given how much our household has enjoyed the two seasons of Aggretsuko thus far.

That's some A+++ fluff, indeed. Also: It's nice to see that the Haruhi dance clips are still getting work. I'd hate to see them out on the street, begging for handouts.

More KanColle? Hmm. Tentative interest here.

*slow clap* Someone finally put that old Journey warhorse to good use. Good on them.

You're 100% correct in that there is no "better than the other" between those two Revue Starlight vids. Speaking of percentages, my only real complaint is they needed about 25% more Banana-san.

Yeah, you know people are gonna try to use that K/DA track for AMVs because it's so good for that sort of thing, but at the same time, that LoL video is kind of perfect. Ah well. You go, you crazy kids!

June 20, 2019

You're Gonna Smile

If you're anything like me, and I apologize if you are, you just broke into a huge grin and memories came flooding back. I know the "good old days" weren't, not in comparison to what computers can do now, but damn...

June 14, 2019

Le Mans 2019

It's that time again! It's the middle of June, and that means that a middlin' city a smidge smaller in population than Duckford to the south of Le Havre, France becomes the center of the motorsports world as the 87th 24 Hours of Le Mans gears up. And due to a miracle pulled off by the apartment complex management, I'll be able to watch it from Pond Central's comfy chair! For whatever reason, Dish Network dropped MotorTrend TV (Dish 246) from our channels list earlier this week. It was there Monday, it wasn't there Wednesday. I called the office, explained the situation, and they called Dish this morning. And lo, upon Pond Central the satellites did smile, for there in its normal location were the initials "MT". I've already set the DVR for all 24 hours.

While Toyota is the favorite to get the overall win with their LMP1-H hybrid powered cars, I'm throwing my support this year behind Rebellion Racing and their LMP1-L non-hybrid cars. The Swiss team is an honest-and-true privateer team, with no support from any manufacturer. Despite this, they were third and fourth in last year's 24H, the best of the non-hybrid cars. They were 12 laps down to the Toyotas. Now that Toyota has finally won Le Mans after years of heartbreak and suffering, and Fernando Alonso has a Le Mans victory under his belt in his chase for the "Triple Crown" of wins at Monaco, Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500, I have no hesitation to root against them. It would be a wonderful thing to see a privateer team beat the factory cars... I don't honestly expect it, unless there's some reliability issues (with a Toyota at Le Mans? Never!), but it would be so cool.

Having said that, I'm cheering for Ford Chip Ganassi Racing in the GTE Pro division. Yes, from privateer to factory based, all in the space of a paragraph. The thing is, Ford is getting out of endurance racing at the factory team level after this race, so seeing them take a class victory would be a great way to go. Sorry, Corvette, I know you're usually my team, thanks to my awesome garage being a Vette specialty shop... I'm a fickle duck, I guess. Next year, I promise!

For those of you who want to watch along, but don't have MotorTrend TV, they have a free 14-day trial you can sign up for on their website and watch the race streaming that way. Or there's Radio Le Mans and their brilliant (audio only) coverage as well. There's nothing better than seeing cars going 210mph down the Mulsanne straight in the middle of the night. C'mon, join in with me!